What tourists thought was the picture-perfect view of a quiet and harmless volcano, turned suddenly into the scenery for a display of nature's rage and sheer strength on Tuesday, May 5th 1998.
Arenal Volcano has once again surprised neighbors and visitors with its fury by spewing huge ash columns and hot rocks into the air. This massive explosion caused the crater to crack, and red hot lava flows emerged from underground.
Arenal Volcano
Located on San Carlos green hills, Arenal's last eruption took place in 1993, but no serious damages occurred at the time. An earlier eruption (1968), the strongest ever recorded, eradicated the town of Pueblo Nuevo, and 78 people were killed as a result. Three new craters were formed during the eruption. The volcano has been active ever since, and continued to produce loud explosions, casual clouds of gases, ashes and vapor, and lava flows.
1998 eruption has been the strongest ever since 1993, and there were many visitors in the area to witness this once in a life time experience of watching a volcano erupt.
It was a clear-sky day. The perfectly conical shaped volcano was visible, and there were no signs in the air for anyone to suspect a new eruption. But the volcano was only getting prepared for action. At 1:00 PM people were just finishing-off lunch, getting back to work, or just relaxing for a mid-day nap, when the first explosion occurred. Hot rocks were sent through the air at a speed of 2 miles per minute. The second explosion took place at 2:20 pm, when near-by residents and visitors had found shelter away from the northwest slope of Arenal, where lava flows were most threatening.
Costa Rican Volcanoes 
